Spinal radicular vein

Those spinal radicular arteries that are radiculo-medullary arteries, supplying nerve root, pial plexus and medulla, branch in a very typical way to form the anterior spinal artery. The ascending branch continues the direction of the radicular artery in the midline of the anterior surface. The descending branch, being the larger one at thoracolumbar levels, forms a hairpin curve as soon as it reaches the midline at the entrance of the anterior fissure (Fig. 17.3). The artery runs above the vein. The maximum diameter of a spinal radiculomedullary artery or the anterior... 

The AV shunt is located inside the dura mater close to the spinal nerve roots. The arterial blood enters a radicular vein where it passes the dura (Thron et al. 1987 Hassler et al. 1989). Flow in the radicular... 

Even if spatial and contrast resolution of these imaging modalities will increase in the future, it might be difficult to differentiate the artery from the vein on the anterior surface of the cord. The anterior spinal artery and vein run very close together. The branching of a radicular artery or vein has a very similar hairpin-configuration, and the level at which a segmental in- or outflow occurs cannot be predicted in a given case. 

The posterior cerebral artery supplies the occipital lobe and portions of the medial and inferior temporal lobe. The arterial supply of the spinal cord is derived from the vertebral arteries and the radicular arteries. The brain is supplied by the internal carotid arteries (the anterior circulation) and the vertebral arteries, which join at the pon tomedullary junction to form the basilar artery (collectively termed the posterior circulation). The brainstem is supplied by the posterior system. The medulla receives blood from branches of the vertebral arteries as well as from the spinal arteries and the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA). The pons is supplied by paramedian and short circumferential branches of the basilar artery. Two major long circumferential branches are the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) and the superior cerebellar artery. The midbrain receives its arterial supply primarily from the posterior cerebral artery as well as from the basilar artery. The venous drainage of the spinal cord drains directly to the systemic circulation. By contrast, veins draining the cerebral hemispheres and brain stem drain into the dural sinuses. Cerebrospinal fluid also drains into the dural sinuses through unidirectional valves termed arachnoid villi. 

Fig. 4. 15a-c. Venous drainage patterns of spinal dural arteriovenous malformations. (NR, nerve root RA, radicular artery DM, dura mater M, medulla). Meningeal branch of the radicular artery feeds arteriovenous shunt located on the dura (small arrow), a Venous drainage by epidural veins (arrow), b Venous drainage via epidural veins and aperimedullary vein (arrow) into the coronal venous plexus (arrowheads), c Exclusive venous drainage by perimedullary vein (arrow) and the coronal venous plexus (arrowheads)... 

---